Customer Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5An indispensible text for serious practionersThis is not a how-to, it is a how-to-understand. I own multiple editions of this book starting with the 3rd, when many of the examples referred to RBase. It won't tell you, with simple color diagrams and cut-and-paste examples, how to optimize your Oracle SQL queries or tune your DB/2 engine, but it will teach you the underlying principles of relational databases, from which the serious professional will be able to extrapolate. If you have the intelligence and stomach for it and you actually read it, it will serve you much better than the SQL in 24 hours picture books that some reviewers seem to be looking for -- it is a timeless and effective conceptual work on the subject that spans the evolution of commercial product implementations. Dilitantes and desperadoes, head for the Dummies aisle -- this one's not for you.

Rating: 1 out of 5A little content of interest, but mostly a lot of fluff.Date's conversational style makes this book easy to read, which is good because there is a lot of extra reading required. Unfortunately, the content does not match the volume--surprisingly little can be gleaned from it's numerous pages. If the chapter summaries were slightly more detailed, it would be sufficient to understand the material.

If you've read some of Date's other works, you won't really find anything new, as this book is significantly based on various of his previous publications. However, this is a convenient compilation, with meaningful footnotes to chapter references (some of which are by other researchers), for anyone so interested. Just don't expect to be able to apply much of what you read in any situation outside a classroom.

If you're a student and have to buy this book, then just grin and bear it--many in academia consider Date an expert. If you're a DBA, there won't be anything new or meaningful for you, it's just too light-weight (remember, the title says it is an introduction)...

Rating: 5 out of 5A "must have" for data management professionalsAs one of E.F. Codd's closest associates Chris Date has long provided the world with some of the most insightful writings on the relational model of data management. Much to their proponents chagrin, he also writes incisively about the various "improvements" to the relational model.

Those who are looking for a cookbook approach to any specific DBMS platform will be sorely disapointed. This book will not help you obtain your MCDBA, OCP, or any other alphabet-soup certification. However, for anyone looking for a firm foundation of data management fundamentals and the practical implications of such, this is THE book to read.

Chris' style of writing tends to be a bit academic and precise. This quality does turn some folks off, but it is this quality that makes his writing so valuable. Read it, re-read it and learn this stuff! No one can seriously consider themselves a data management professional without a good grasp of the material in this book. This is the book that other authors refer to when they want to get their facts straight.